Vintage
by Regist
Summary: After all the things I've been through, why can't I seem to fight this one to the end?" Fox is tired of his depressing life, but can some adventure and corruption bring him into the light of his own denial, or will he wander the darkness forever. Fox/Wolf


**Disclaimer: Well, seeing as I have all this fan fiction piled up on my desk, and even some of my own poop, I figured that I would finally make a damn account on this site. First SF fic though, so I hope I did well on getting the mood right for this story. I plan to make this a long one, so bear with me if I take to long to update. Yes, this is a yaoi, lol, fanboy power. Most likely between Wolf and Fox, but hey, I could throw some OC's in there. Seeing as this will be centered around Fox and a OC, along with Wolf and a OC. Don't worry, you'll like them.**

**Chapter One: Delved (Caged Inside)**

**Fox Pov**

The Lylat System.

My home and grave. The place I sworn to protect when I took my place as chief commander of Team Star Fox. I'm a hero to this place, yet I can't help but feel as though this place has gotten quite repetitive. How long have I circled this galaxy, being only twenty six, I'd like to say seven years. And in those seven years, my life has been one topsy turvy adventure after another, all thanks to that stupid git of an emperor. Well, seeing as my team and I finished him off once and for all, no more wars has been brought. Even after the Aperiod attack. Yuck, those damn things were disgusting.

I never thought I could get tired of this life, but alas. Here I am, in my room aboard the Great Fox, lounging in my civilian wear, just staring at my own eyelids because my eyes are closed and I'm trying to drown out any noise, as if there was some. My ears perk as I hear a knock at my door. I rolled onto my side, pretending not to notice whoever is at my door. They knocked again.

"Um. Fox? Are you awake?"

Right away, I can tell its Krystal, and by the sound of her voice, she sounds worried about something. You know, she is one of the things that I have gotten tired of, was it mean of me to address her as a thing? I don't know anymore. I hear her knock and sigh, the sound of her footsteps trailing away from door is heard through out the hall. That was more than the twelfth time she had come to my door today. Why does she insist on bothering me? Can't she tell I want to be alone? I mean, she can read emotions, isn't it obvious? Ugh. This whole situation is starting to piss me off. It's not just her either. It all of them. Peppy, Falco, Slippy and ROB. Yep, even the robot is bothering me. They all want me to connect and leave my room, but I don't care what they want. This reminds me; how long have I been in my room? This makes me laugh a little, because even I can't remember.

I want to say a month or two.

Now that I'm not trying to worry them, I do occasionally come out to eat and work out, trying to keep my physique in top form, and I do bathe, if I didn't, that would be gross. But, there is nothing any of them could offer me, so I usually stray back into my room, reading the same novellas over and over again. I keep up with the planets by watching the terminal I had installed in here months ago. I was surprised when they found a new general so fast after Pepper was killed. Some snotty looking prick if you ask me. A stallion called Kent, or General Kent, if you want to be technical.

I was mildly happy to hear that they were vastly reconstructing Cornaria. After the Aperiod attack, the whole mainstream of downtown was destroyed on that planet. It was a mess, not good on the committee for that planet. Heh. I just laughed a little, something I hardly do now and days. Laughter. I really can't remember the last time since i  
really let a good one out. Maybe I never really did laugh, with all the war I've been through, what is there to laugh about? I think I'm just being stupid. I mean, what kind of person could not laugh? That would be a very dry and depressed person if you ask me.

Well, I guess I'm pretty much a dry and depressing person.

I swish my tail in the air as I lay on my stomach and growl into my pillow.

Pretty much dry and depressing.

I perk my head up when I hear my phone going off in my work pants that lay on my chair in the corner of the room. I'm contemplating on getting up, this is quite unusual, that's my work phone. It rings again and this time I do get up and walk over to the chair, rummaging through my slacks for the beeping distraction.

I smirk as I pull the visual phone out of my pocket, but then lose all color on my face as I look at the name that is calling. It reads General Pepper in blue LCD display, waiting for me to flip it open and see the hologram of him at his large mahogany desk, looking all official in his red army coat, pinned with plenty of badges and what not. I would look into his old weathered doggy face and smile, but that's not the case. Pepper is dead, and nothing could ever change that. But now I'm curious, who else could be calling me under that name, unless it is who I think it is, and I really don't care much to talk to him. But the only reason he could be calling me on this line is for a mission, and you could say that sort of excited me, but at all, kept me very curious.

The phone rang again, and this time, I did answer it. I flipped it open and held it out in my palm, letting it's built in hologram feature take hold. As I figured, there sat Kent, wearing a blue vest with a white collar shirt and a smirk on his face. He was sitting behind, not a mahogany desk, but a pure Blackwood desk, in place of Pepper's. He had his chin rested on his large hands, and was leaning in close to the visual phone that was placed in front of him.

"Ahh. Fox McCloud. It's finally nice to meet you." he said in a dark, rustic voice, eyeing my choice of lounge wear in humor. A regular white wife beater and some cotton shorts. I guess he saw this as amusing.

"As to you sir. If I were to known that you would call, I would choose myself in better wear." I said, biting back a laugh. There I go again, making myself laugh. He closed his eyes and smiled, showing no signs of any age on his young face.

"That's quite alright. We all have our humorous and disgraceful moments."

Disgraceful? Is he trying to be funny or arrogant? I bite back this comment and smile genuinely at the new general. "Yes, and I guess you caught me at one of my own. It's nice to finally meet you. You seem like a real people person on the television, but that's only what I see on TV. You could be totally different in real life. So, I guess me talking to you will let me find out." I said, acting a little smug myself, watching his face to see if he expression had changed, but to my displeasure, I saw that it didn't change a bit.

The new general nodded, turning to a single piece of paper. He picked it up and smirked at me, a crooked smile was all he had. Whoever he thought he was, it was starting to tick me off. He opened his brown eyes and smirked darkly at me, making me cock my eyebrow in suspicion.

"Well, I heard many things about you and your team and I hope you won't disappoint me on this assignment or any other future ones that are handed to you. But I'm sure you can handle this, given your reputation." He chuckled.

As I thought, we had an assignment, but something about this man gave me a cause for suspicion. That and he seemed like a total and smug asshole.

"What kind of mission?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing major, just a little problem we are having with space pirates."

I looked at him confused.

"Space pirates?"

"Yes. Refugees of the war four years ago. One's that until now, have been attacking planets around the Lylat System and helplessly killing civilians and what not. They are Extremists and must be put under control. The Federation is trying what they can to settle the situations, but we have received word from an underground spy that a group of these Extremists plan to attack and hijack a seaside train holding the Commissioner and his family in a few days."

I looked at him in disbelief.

"You're telling me that some old soldiers have turned terrorist and plan to hijack a train? If you ask me, that sounds really stupid. There has to be something more. Why would they go after the Commissioner and his family? That would be small peanuts to terrorists."

Kent looked at me and narrowed his eyes, leaning his chin off his hands and smiling. I felt a small twinge of annoyance build up in my gut.

"You are as good as they say you are. Well, I might as well tell you the real mission." He said, leaning in closer to the phone. I waited impatiently, thinking if this guy was for real or not.

"We want you to orbit around Cornaria for a bit. There are space pirates and we need you to keep our planet covered. They have been attacking other planets and we did get confirmation that a large fleet of them were heading in our direction. We expect a full scale attack, and we want you guys on the front line. How does that sound?"

I looked at him and closed my eyes in frustration. There was something about this guy that sure did rub me wrong. After much consideration and making him wait for what seemed a half hour, I opened my eyes and smirked.

"Team Star Fox will gladly take this mission, but at a price."

"Price?" He questioned. "Of course. We will pay you what is due."

"Good." I said. We did need some more money around here; living off of condensed soup and freeze dried vegetables is no way to live. I rubbed the back of my head in winging frustration, looking at the new general. He smiled at me smugly and punched in the mission status on the phone.

"The money will be forwarded to Team Star Fox's account. It will be there shortly. I also entered the plans and coordinates into your ship's database. I would like you and your team to be there as quick as you can get there."

"We will be there soon and thank you for choosing our team for your services. We will make sure everything will go as smoothly as possible." I said, with a flare of arrogance.

"I hope so. This is goodbye for _now._"

And like that, the hologram disappeared and the call was terminated. I scratched my left ear in annoyance and excitement. But the thought of space pirates sounded really odd. The only people close to that term is Wolf and his shipmates, but they're bounty hunters.

I thought of this while I pulled on my pants and walked over to my closet, pulling it open and taking a plain red shirt with my jacket. As I laced up my boots, I couldn't help but feel uneasy about this mission, and the way he had said his last word. A little too much pronunciation on the word 'now'.

I surveyed myself in the mirror and smirked. There's someone I haven't seen in a while. It felt good to be in my old uniform, like a refreshed me. I looked behind me to see something I haven't used in forever. My laser pistol sat in its holster on my desk, calling for me to pick it up. I reached for it and latched it onto my pants. Now I felt complete.

I walked to my door and stood in front of it, like if it were some magical gate that has never been touched. I took a deep breath and smirked. This was going to be our first mission in a while, and for me, it would be the one to drag me out of my depression.

I pressed the open button, and as the door slid open, I walked out, entering the vast hall of my ship.

/


End file.
